ANDRE HAMBOURG (1909-1999)

Gondolas in Venice, 1977 Ink on paper signed lower left, located and dated lower right. Size: 17 x 26.5 cm Born in Paris on May 4, 1909, André Hambourg attended the Ecole nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs and the Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts. Painter, draughtsman, lithographer, engraver, ceramist and illustrator, he exhibited in Paris from 1928 at the Galerie du Taureau and in 1930 at the Galerie Bénézit. Winner of the Villa Abd El Tif prize, he stayed in Algiers from 1933 to 1935, visiting southern Algeria. In 1939, he was mobilized in Morocco, then demobilized. In 1943, he was posted to Algiers and contributed to the "Combattant 43" newspaper. As a war correspondent, he followed the campaigns in France and Germany in 1944-45. In 1945, he exhibited his wartime works at the Galerie de Berri. In 1952, he was appointed painter to the French Navy, and took part in numerous missions aboard Navy vessels (until 1985). In 1961, he chose Paul Pétridès as his dealer. From 1957 to 1972, he spent time in Venice, Morocco, the U.S.S.R., Israel, Great Britain, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, etc., not to mention his missions around the world as painter to the French Navy. His paintings exude joie de vivre, and the many figures are, as the artist himself was, always in motion. His Trouville Deauville beaches made him famous in the wake of Eugène Boudin, but the paintings of his youth, exhibited just after his death at the Greniers à Sel in Honfleur, confirm the artist's power and talent, as does his retrospective at the Musée de la Marine at the end of 2006.